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Table Of Contents Issue 27
Artists Owen Linders
4
Richard Heckert
20
Rick Berry
36
Taner Tumkaya
56
Raul Gonzalez III
76
4
Owen Linders Interview by Ian Sanity
Drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, performance art, and even stand up comedy; if it’s creative then Owen Linders will dabble. He always has “6 or 7 irons in the fire,” and on top of it all he’s a “data entry enthusiast.” Which I am sure was a sarcastic remark about the day job he uses to fund his artistic endeavors. If Owen’s list of achievements came in the form of a scroll (which wouldn’t surprise me) it would hit the floor and bounce with a bang when he unrolled it. Parchment heavy with the weight of organized events, group shows, wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man costumes, solo shows, commissions, post-it beards, great jokes, general awesomeness, Netflix binges, swimming trophies (I’ve seen them!), and buckets of gained knowledge. I have known Owen for many years, but how much I really know about him is astonishingly little, I’m finding out. I’m giddy to dive deeper into the neuvo-rennaissance brain of which I’ve really only seen the surface. Is there a modern day Da Vinci? I don’t know but Owen is the person I know to get closest to the mark. Though I’m not sure if the Paint it red 3 - Mixed Media on Paper - 2011
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Doodle 2 - Mixed Media on Paper - 2013 Ball so Hard - Linoleum Block Print 2014
great master ever began an interview by what can only be described as ‘making it rain’ many small pieces of art onto his interviewer, which of course, was an honor. Owen’s studio, where we talk, is warm, and very clearly loved. It almost has a magic to it, a life of its own. Milk crates full of random supplies in the corners that almost open their mouths to speak out, tubs full of things like broken Gundam toys still attempting to wiggle the limbs they’ve lost as artistic sacrifices, singing paint cans, knives, and scraps that I swear are swaying in the non existent breeze. At center stage is a proud farm style table, who’s legs bear the weight of a thousand projects and a million ideas; that’s been Owen’s main studio surface, and perhaps best friend, since high school. His space is a beautiful, welcoming mess. I always try to start at the beginning. I want the history of Owen Linders. “When I was young my parents introduced me early to Lego and Duplo,” Owen explains. It’s funny how many of my friends and colleagues point to Legos being a large factor in their early stages of creativity. “I Paint it Red 1 - Mixed Media on Paper - 2011
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immediately started doing weird stuff with them,” he continues. “One day my mom was going to take a nap, which she truly earned because I’m sure I was an exhausting little shit, I had made this wall of soldiers and I kind of trapped her in her room. Scared the hell out of her. She pointed to that as the moment I started to do art or that I might be one of those creepy Omen kids. One or the other.” I’m glad it’s not the latter. “Ever since I was a kid I was always doodling, drawing. I was convinced until fifth grade that I was going to make a Claymation video, but I always just got hung up on the sculptures. It was just so much more fun to be constantly lying to myself. Like: Yeah! This is how you make an animated film. I’m going to just keep making clay monsters and I’ll let the director figure it out. I had no conception of the project. I think it was called ‘Beware of Chocolate Pudding.’ ” An ambitious first consciously artistic project that he describes with his hands firmly planted on his table. “Hollywood has yet to call. Ha.” Owen’s laugh fills his studio, dampened only slightly by vast array of art and supplies everywhere. His Flotsam and Lagan 2 - Mixed Media Sculpture - 2014
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Flotsam and Lagan 1 - Mixed Media Sculpture - 2014
voice is barely able to bounce off the tabletop; it is so littered with artistic debris. “Throughout middle school and high school I had phenomenal art teachers, who in the dead of winter, during February break, would come in so I could go and do ceramics. Teachers who genuinely gave so much of their time and effort to make sure that I was given facility. In high school I had four of the best years of art instruction I have ever gotten and on a budget, which I can only describe as meager, which I understood it. They would keep a kiln on to warm the room too.” No doubt Owen’s teachers’ passions helped inspire his own passions and his own ability to roll with the punches. “I went to Alfred University in central New York. I went in for ceramics and almost immediately took a print making class by mistake,” Owen recalls, a happy accident that we should all be stoked about. After a semester or two of college Linders was already considering leaving. “I kept going to school because of joining the swim team,” he says, “which is probably the first City of Night Lamp - Mixed Media Sculpture - 2013
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time I realized that it was really okay to be more than one thing at a time. You know, it’s okay to be like a jocky, bro dude who can also go to his painting class,” he explains. This was no doubt an experience that helped shaped Owen’s young mind into the open and explorative capacity that it now has. Life after college for an artist can be tough. There’s not a lot of jobs going around, art buyers are far and few in between, and Joe Schmoe can get ‘art’ down at the Urban Outfitters for super low prices. “I moved back home like a lot of kids have to do nowadays when they graduate in a recession or a not great job market. My dad very kindly had set up a studio for me, just like this space. This table itself.” A table that could represent the strength of Owen’s support systems. Supportive parents. Passionate teachers. Inspirational peers. All things that help keep his weighty goals afloat. “I’ve always been a firm believer that a high tide lifts all boats, when it comes to art and comedy,” he says as he describes the first experiences that helped fill the sails, despite early rough seas. “One of the things that I think kept
Doodle 1 - Mixed Media on Paper - 2013
me going was Mike Shick inviting me to the Allston Art Shares. I just immediately met people who were better than me, who were more disciplined, who were better painters. To be around people who are truly talented makes you want to get back to it.” “You see their stuff and say ‘I want to get there!’” This is definitely something that anyone can relate to. Inspiration or competition, whatever it is, it’s unbelievably important for an artist to grow and evolve. It’s no wonder Owen masters many mediums. He’s driven to, naturally. As we talk, Owen stands at his sturdy, flat partner, surrounded by his creations and facing many projects he’s left unfinished. On one wall he has a small battalion of sculptures that look like small organic robots ready for battle. In front of another wall stands a lamp shaded with a cloud made from small blocks of painted wood and wire. Colorful little spires of stacked doodles and paintings reach high off their land. He has a full table of framed paintings all standing at attention. Directly in front of Owen, a linoleum block eagerly awaits its
next carvings and yearns for its first encounter with ink. I wouldn’t be surprised to find little clay creatures peeking out of their dark corners, ready to play their part in Owen’s next stop motion comedy blockbuster. “I think almost every one of these art projects starts out as a distraction from another, or is an answer to a project. He describes his sculptures; “Each one of those definitely starts as different objects. For the most part, there will be a scrap of paint or a piece of wood that I’ve drawn on, perhaps weeks in advance. It was very rare that when I was working on them that I did a thing for each one that was made at the time. For the most part I had already done the work. I just had to go through the ridiculous task of putting them together.” Owen describes his process differently for every project. “This particular linoleum block is super personal. There’s a lot in it about depression and anxiety.” But the next piece helps Owen find the balance to the last. “Then I’ll do one with arrows! The idea that the two of them work in tandem to make
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it so that I’m not crazy all the time. It’s almost like they each exercise a different skill set. I’m surrounded by all these colorful little paintings and each one is like a color study. I was doing these on a larger scale and I never really enjoyed them as much. What will happen if I tear them up and get back into them with some sand paper and some effort.” It’s very often refreshing to find an artist who doesn’t just follow a formula. It’s clear that Linders creates to create; he’s a scientist for art. With the dynamic and ever-growing skills in Owen’s toolbox there’s no doubt that his future screams of big creative things. I for one am looking forward to a full gallery show of installation work, with all my fingers crossed. Keep your eyes on the future path of this artist because he is already an inspirational and super-talented, artsy dude. To take a peak into the unreal, but very real, creative world of Owen Linders check out his blog at: owenlinders.wordpress.com
Garibaldi and the Red Shirt - Mixed Media and Collage - 2014 Abstraks 19
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Richard Heckert Interview by Tim McCool
Richard Heckert’s artwork is a visual assault. Vibrating colors and dynamic shapes and figures are compressed into tightly packed compositions. One piece extols the viewer to “STOP THE BLOB”. Another screams “LOVE TECHNO”. Others ring the alarm, telling tales of the impending Barbie Wars, urging people to shop and consume, warning of alien sacrifice. It is, in a word, chaos. In two words, utter chaos. It is, as Heckert puts it, POP AMOK. While the subject matter of Heckert’s work is chaotic and messy, his style is exactly the opposite. Heckert uses a crisp and clean line to describe the hustle and bustle of our culture. Every curve, every angle is expertly outlined on paper. Heckert is an expert draftsman who counts both Bosch and Mucha among his inspirations, and it shows. The Garden of Earthly Delights, full of action and detail, is a good starting point from which to conceptually approach this particular body of Heckert’s work. Heckert draws on our rapid-fire culture, technological necessities, and consumerist obsessions for \Consume Yourself - Painting|Drawing 2013
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Duality - Painting|Drawing - 2009
Hearts of Supervision - Painting|Drawing - 2014
his subject matter. But he doesn’t condemn so much as acknowledge that there are certain inevitabilities in our lives that are unlikely to change, and that our reliance on technology can cut both ways. Heckert prefers to be stuck right in the middle, observing and commenting with his fineliner pen. He is ready to cut cleanly through the chaos so that he can create even more. Richard Heckert is an artist working in the city of Essen, Germany. He has exhibition credits in Germany, Spain, and the UK, among others. The following interview took place between Richard and myself over email. The answers have been lightly edited. The most immediate thing I noticed about your work is its maximal quality -- every inch of the page is covered in detail. But while it’s visually chaotic, the technique is sharp, the lines are crisp, it’s very skillful. How much of your composition is planned and how much is worked out on the page? In other words, where do you get started? Narkotika Chaotika - Painting|Drawing - 2009
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Oil of Pop Devil - Painting|Drawing 2012
Peoples Pop Penalty - Painting|Drawing - 2014
I attach importance to the drafting of different reasons. In many ways it makes me happy when I can realize a fleeting moment or a fleeting thought in an apparently clear image. At first glance, everything appears clearly. A colorful and detailed image. On closer examination, the work takes on a different character. Many people stated in interviews that on closer inspection they felt confusion, discomfort, and anxiety. My works create an extraordinary interaction between optics, aesthetics and emotions. The connection between clean lines and chaotic elements corresponds to the eternal and universal forces of chaos and order. The composition of an image is formed through experimentation. One remembers some interesting elements, and other details are generated or arise from the dynamics of the work process. Many aspects remain unexplained and arise during the drafting in surprising ways. The relationship between compositional and experimental planning is difficult to know for certain. Between the initial ignition and completion of the work come unconscious aspects Pop Amok - Painting|Drawing - 2012
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that lend the works of Pop Amok an idiosyncratic dynamic. Where to begin? It is the recurring spark of a mental image as an unspeakable thought. This spark is the starting signal and the result comes out more involved than originally anticipated. Text seems crucial to your work, even if it isn’t the central focus of your compositions. Where does the text come from and what effect do you intend or hope it to have on your works’ interpretation? How do you feel about the pieces without text in relationship to the pieces with it? The text emphasizes different elements, and also amplifies states and emotions. This can be both subjective and general. The culture of television, headlines and superlative advertising slogans are synthetic elements of my work. Often these word fragments are formed only in the process of drafting the image, and can be unreflected. The textual supplements are not postulations but resonance amplifiers. I understand my work like a snapshot of the conditions in us and around us.
Both the text and the imagery seem to involve some themes of technology versus humanity. What is your relationship with technology? How does technology affect your work? I was born in a time in which the technical and technological changes transformed our lives substantially. From today’s perspective, we note that the desired balance between ecology and technology, which is also a social balance, has been irreparably damaged. The phenomenon of technology, understood in this way, affects my work and, in view of global changes, should be the subject of art. The influence of technology on life is one aspect of my art. Another aspect focuses on the question of influence of technology on art. The small and detailed work of Pop Amok emphasizes the important insight that the perception of art has changed in the era of reproduction-technology. The acceleration of art, fast made production lines, and unlimited reproducibility changed the idea of art - a volatility that can be found in our daily lives too. It is the culture of pop. Sacrifice Alien Pop - Painting|Drawing 2013
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The preparation and development of my work requires a lot of time, indicating a counter-trend: Take your time! The interested viewer will take a long time for viewing the image too. My work calls for you to take more time for the things again, to take it slow, a slowing down of our restless life. Also, I speak of deliberately small, portable formats! The Anti-Pop does away with oversized images for the museum and excessive use of resources, and includes the hope that allows us a quiet moment to think. How long have you been working in this particular style, and what do you consider your influences to be? Do you look at any other artists while you’re working? And what about movies, books, television, music -- do you draw any inspirations from there? I’m experimenting with a variety of things. The colorful and unique style of Pop Amok was first present as a foreshadowed feeling. I practiced and studied for many years before I have found this expression in art. Although I am connected to artists of the past and present, I have developed my style autodidactically.
I admire works by Frank Kozik and Joe Coleman, love the Viennese School and the master of Art Nouveau, Alphonse Mucha. From deeper in the history books, there is also Hieronymus Bosch, and many more artists. I am inspired by TV, movies, books and music, and I collect fragments. The moment where the drop brings the bucket to overflow, a new idea is born. What formative elements in your background led you to develop this style of working? In our fast-paced and volatile daily routines, we recognize only the restricted elements of reality.
Cameras, traffic lights, mobile phones, escalators, screens, transportation, traffic jams, TVs, satellites, or queues. Everything has a different effect upon second glance and interpersonal relationships look like small islands in a great ocean. Instruments and tools with a variety of functions that have not yet really been discovered because we have no distance. We are in the middle and involved. For me, these are also symbols of our time. There are symbols that tell us something about ourselves. For me, it starts to get interesting at this point. Contact: richard@heckertart.com heckertart.com
Stop the Blob - Painting|Drawing - 2014 Abstraks 35
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Rick Berry Interview by Steven Briggs
The Black Magician Crumpled forms incite anguish and rage. Darkness looms in every corner of the frame. From an initial glimpse, the artist Rick Berry hides in a scattered web of tragedy and malignant obscurity. To look at the work compares itself to a prick of the finger, something rotting before your eyes. Bodies writhe against the black to the point of near incomprehensibility. Every painting seems to exist as an eternal struggle between the light and the dark. Rick Berry works in a studio on the third floor of a restored mill, one of the oldest buildings in Arlington, Massachusetts just North of Cambridge and Boston. Once inside, plush hazy green carpet fills the packed space. Rows of oil paintings huddled together lean against the aging walls. Rick, a joyful man with infectious enthusiasm, offers a warm greeting as he introduces himself. Coming out of a 36-hour block of work, he visibly adjusts to having company. With one question, Berry takes off on a whirlwind of life experiences, passionate projects, long-lived friendships, and his childlike tendencies. Baby Can I Change My Mind? - Oil
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Berry recounts his time as a young man traveling around the country with his family. He enrolled in eleven different schools as they constantly moved from one location to the next. He quickly became disinterested in a formal education and eventually dropped out at the age of seventeen. During his younger years, Berry knew nothing of permanent possessions. Always on the go, he spent his time scribbling and doodling for hours. Drawings became his only treasure, “portable things� that could travel as easily and as often as he did. As a self-taught artist, Berry created his own approach to drawing without being bound by conventional standards or rules. One day as he was casually browsing a collection of comic books, an idea flickered above his head. He could use his burgeoning creative talent to spawn a career in comics and illustration. Berry hitchhiked to the East Coast and quickly learned the trade. For the young artist, illustration held limitless possibilities, allowing him to freely explore the deep recesses of his imagination. His doodles and drawings were not bound by the Courtside - Oil
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surface of life but instead flowed freely, exploring strange and unrecognizable forms. Berry would go on to create the first digitally painted book cover in 1984 for William Gibson’s Neuromancer. As brought to life by Berry, the work explores a dark futuristic reality in which a computer hacker takes on the ultimate hacking challenge for an unknown employer. The book went on to inspire a slew of modern science fiction stories throughout literature and cinema. However as the years pressed on, Berry became increasingly dissatisfied with the pressures of commercial illustration. The business changed before his eyes as art directors started to demand routine, stock images that they believed would make the most profit. Suddenly, Berry’s once valued freethinking skills became an anomaly in a rapidly changing industry of precision and formulary. Feeling trapped, Berry opted out of his regular paycheck and discovered his own way. Berry soon became friends with author Neil Gaiman known for his comic book series The Sandman and various other works of Marionette - Oil
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literature. The two collaborated on a number of projects as Berry provided the cover art for Gaiman’s books. They continue to share a notable infatuation of the surreal, each creating worlds of blistering imagination and fantastical heights. Their creative partnership lead to a wide range of opportunities as both Gaiman’s work and Berry’s images garnered increasing notoriety. Berry eventually met Amanda Palmer, Gaiman’s fiancé, whose interest in Berry’s work sparked another creative partnership through the American Repertory Theater’s production of Cabaret, an imaginative retelling of the classic Broadway musical. As the signature artist for the production, Berry created sensuous paintings as a part of the mise en scène onstage adding to the performance’s visceral experience. Even today, Berry explores a variety of different outlets for making and showing work. From illustration and literature to live theater, Berry refuses to limit his images to a singular medium. Regardless of the final product, he strives to transport the viewer by creating a hybrid of known and unknown images. Med fix - Oil
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Menacing and detached, each painting takes on its own reality with its central subject lost amid a frightening and treacherous world. Berry introduces several works in progress grouped together in a small circle. Like many artists, he remarks that he finds comfort in working on several pieces simultaneously. Swapping images helps him gain clarity and allows him to refresh his perspective after spending time on a different work. Berry runs over his set of tools laid out on a nearby drafting table. Paint muddled scrappers, knives, rubber spatulas, and steel brushes cover the surface. Berry requires a variety of tools to apply the paint as a way of distorting the image. Fine lines, jagged marks, and swirling blotches of color appear in almost every painting. Berry adds tattered clothing to the list including worn jeans, zippers, and intricate sewing patterns that leave a range of designs on the canvas. Anything within reach Berry sees as a potential tool to control the paint in new ways. In a similar fashion, he reminisces about having a pupil at one point. The student wanted My Parents Before I Knew Them - Oil
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to paint a fish. Without hesitation, Berry suggested that they go to the nearby farmer’s market and buy a fish, cover it in paint and press it into the canvas. A bit alarmed, the student made wide eyes at Berry and asked, “Can we do that?” As Berry remembers, the painting turned out surprisingly well. Berry continues to stress his lack of formal training. He believes many young artists go to art school, learn so-called “proper technique,” and spend the next ten years unlearning everything they have been taught. Fortunately for Berry, there has never been anything to unlearn. He believes that an artist has to form his or her own unique vision for the world. He continues by illustrating how every child explores the surreal, the nonsense, through drawing and doodling. Once the artist matures, they must rehabilitate their child-like sensibilities to find their own set of rules for making images. Berry sees fun as a learning engine and personal experimentation as the ultimate path to originality and creative genius. As a part of deconstructing the image, Berry chips away at the Myrinx - Oil
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familiar aspects of the figure to make room for ambiguity. Removing pieces of a limb or disembodying a head transports the subject to a new realm. Loose strokes of paint and manipulated forms create tension and a feeling of unease. Berry seeks synergy in his vision as he wavers between consciously building an image up and unconsciously breaking it down. Without one or the other, you loose your comparative standards. “I trick myself out of known territory,” Berry states. Our consciousness never seems to be in the present, instead looking ahead or behind to find the answer. While our unconscious state allows us to react instinctively, tuning in to the object in front of us as if the image is creating itself. Looking over a group of finished paintings, the viewer can see traces of a familiar figure with the rest buried or broken underneath layers of paint. Some appear almost godlike with angelic faces and bulging limbs. Certain aspects call to mind the Baroque paintings or the 17th Century, specifically Caravaggio’s dark depictions of pain and suffering. The surrealist elements beg for a second viewing. Blurred out Pugilist - Oil Abstraks 51
faces and hypnotic forms suggest the teachings of Francis Bacon hold profound power over Berry. As with both Bacon and Caravaggio as artistic influences, the figures twist and contort their bodies as if the very nature of being human is the cause of their struggle. The flesh pulls against the subject with fervor, desperate to remove itself from the suffering of mankind. Without any visible threat in the frame, each figure seems to be its own worst enemy, inciting its own misery. Some works have been deconstructed so much so that they drift entirely into the realm of the unknown. Hints of cubism and Picasso’s blue period seep through the frame as blocks of color completely distort sections of the figure. These works feel unanimously alive with crude streaks of paint and strange lines that keep the viewer asking questions. The most powerful images in Berry’s portfolio are the ones that provoke the most fear. The masked figures and gruesome monsters will keep you up at night and solidify Berry as a powerful creative talent.
Prove It - Oil
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Berry states that he strives to destroy certain academic tropes by stripping away the perfect qualities in his work. He wants little to do with recreating the great annals of historical painting. Yet for the works where the figure remains for the most part intact, the viewer can instantly recall a historical counterpart. Ultimately, the more the viewer can recognize the figure, the less interesting the work becomes. Traditional romanticism tends to overshadow the arcane complexity in his art. In every case, Berry’s best pieces are those that drift more towards the unconscious than the conscious. View Berry’s work in upcoming exhibitions in Boston at Liquid Art House this spring and in New York, at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, this summer. Follow Berry’s works at facebook.com/rickberrystudio, blog.rickberrystudio.com (tumblr) or www.rickberrystudio.com
To Absent Friends - Oil Abstraks 55
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Taner Tumkaya Written by Steven Briggs
Rebel Against Me Taner Tumkaya jacks around in all trades. Starting his own production company in Los Angeles in 2011, Tar Films creates a range of photography and video including narrative, experimental, music and fashion videos, and works for various commercial enterprises. Deeply rooted in fine art and its many contradictions, Taner has a long history of working in other mediums including sculpture, animation, sound scape, and graphic design. As an artist, Taner stands restless and difficult to pin down as he eagerly explores one idea after the next. With nearly every project, a feeling of resistance emerges. Resistance to consensus opinions, orderly execution and non-linear narratives. Early on, Taner focused his creative sensibilities on fine art. In 1997, Taner began his education with a B.A in sculpture at Hecettepe University in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. With a year in between, he went on to get his M.F.A in Interdisciplinary Arts at St채delschule, a contemporary fine arts academy in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. During this time and in the years fol-
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lowing, Taner created several large sculptural works: interactive and off limits, silent or loud, moving and still, public and private. As seen in many of these pieces, Taner explored his fascination of the cone, a simple three-dimensional shape that spurs countless possibilities. In one of his earlier works, “common sense is not common,” from 2007, Taner erected a massive yellow cone near the edge of a river in the small town of Askeaton, Ireland. Ten meters high with its bright uniform color, the structure could be seen from far distances. Its presence visibly disrupts the cozy town with its pattern of green foliage and gray stone buildings. The modern minimal design contrasts the aged architecture as some structures crumble to ruins in the background. Any photograph of the scene appears as if a section was merely Photoshopped out and replaced with a solid yellow block. Playful and stoic, the simplicity of the piece adds to its dramatic effect. In a similar work titled “A CONE” from 2006, a long sculptural reflective cone hangs in the middle of an open interior. The tip of the cone
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is made available to viewers on the second-story balcony in which they are invited to look through the opening to watch a 24-minute video. Footage inside the cone depicts certain parts of Taner’s body as if each body part acted as a “separate and autonomous” body. Taner explains his reasoning for installing the video in a conic-viewer. Only one viewer is allowed to look through the cone at a time, creating a personal one-on-one “peep” experience for each participant. The simple structure allowed for fragmented parts that correspond to the idea of the original video piece. The elongated shape of the sculpture has a phallus quality that relates back to the body, combining themes of power and productivity. Acting as a kaleidoscope of human anatomy, the piece creates a personal approach to physical assessment. Each viewer must overanalyze the contents of Taner’s body as if it were their own. Cultivating all of his conic interests, Taner then created “The Book of Cone,” (2007), a box that contains an unbound group of pages. Each page or image refers to the cone in some way including household ob-
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jects, architecture, human anatomy, and The Coneheads. The artist’s intention was that viewer participates as a co-author of the material, mixing and matching the pages as he or she sees fit. As Taner writes, “This aspect provides a cinematic viewing of perspectives that are challenging each other while contemplating on social structures, on time and on production.” Random and concise, the group of images reflects a popular magazine as the viewer quickly sorts through the stack. Throughout the piece, pages highlight the axioms of the cone; specifically it’s inherent geometrical qualities that Taner finds most attractive. Axiom 1 demonstrates that a right-angle cone will maintain the same proportions with each circular cut. Axiom 2 creates a scenario in which a video camera zooms in straight down on the tip of a cone centered in the frame. The zoom can continue eternally to the point that the viewer could no longer distinguish between a moving image and a still one. Finally, Taner acknowledges that a cone has a will to perform: to move in a particular direction, to penetrate, to project, to accelerate, to select,
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to transgress. Taner transforms the cone before your eyes. Its cultural and structural importance becomes undeniable and endlessly fascinating. Taner has a knack for transporting ordinary objects to new realms, infusing their natural properties with a fresh perspective in an atypical environment. In the same fashion, his video and photography works reexamine the familiar with startling results. Manipulating light and sound, Taner can take on complex ideas with either subtle nuance or electric ferocity. In one of his earlier video pieces, Taner responded to a group exhibition at the Fredericianum Museum in Germany with a group demonstration and a documentary to record it. “MAYDAY” from 2005 follows Taner and four of his friends as they embark on an eight-day pilgrimage from Frankfurt, where Taner was going to school, to Kassel. Calling themselves “Sindacato della Scuola di Städel,” the group sleeps only outdoors as they struggle to find their way to the museum along wooden paths and residential streets. Time and time again, the group must ask locals for directions.
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During their journey, Taner and his friends display their colorful personalities, reflect on the intention of the piece, and confess their secrets to the camera. One member admits, “He (Taner) thinks everything is going fine.” To which another member chuckles and responds, “But actually it’s not.” Walking, hydrating, and more walking, the footage would become tedious if not for the quick cuts, effectively passing the eight days in nearly twelve minutes. Another member remarks during a moment of exhaustion, “I am just bored.” However, the group seems to be infused with a divine sense of meaning and purpose. “I am not the medium,” stands out as a memorable motif. At last the group reaches the museum just as the opening ceremony gets underway. The museum’s exhibition “Collective Creativity” invited groups to make collective projects. With its mountainous white pillars, the museum becomes a grand symbol of mankind’s ode to itself, undying history and artistic excellence. Taner and his friends pitch their tent in the open square in front of the museum’s epic entrance. Playful discussion ensues about what to
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write on the banners. “Fuck Boy” becomes a popular slogan. Taner fiddles with a megaphone to send a terrible screeching sound through the air. As pedestrians casually pass by, the group announces their list of commands: “go and give them trouble,” “give a shit,” “don’t trust us,” and “work for us.” As the orchestrator of the group, Taner and his personal ambition seems strangely absent. Perhaps carrying the camera himself, he falls silent as if his quest fills him with unending doubt. In one of the most memorable sequences, the only female member of the group walks through the museum exhibition with strips of tape labeled, “It doesn’t work.” She attaches them to the wall text of pieces she doesn’t like and leaves the ones she does undisturbed. Later she confesses to the camera, “It’s getting funny. There’s no more importance if it’s good or not.” The group seems to waver from complete seriousness to utter absurdity, which might be the necessary ingredients for making any great piece of art. The piece becomes equal parts powerful and playful, offering a range of opinions on the creative process, artistic merit, and personal ethics.
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In the years that followed, Taner consciously shifts away from his notably more “high art “ aesthetic in favor of more mainstream tastes. He moved to the U.S. hoping to apply his unique artistic sensibilities to the world of cinema. Dramatic and universal, the language of cinema enticed Taner with countless new opportunities to express his ideas visually. The academic tropes of his earlier work slowly recede into the background as Taner shifts to a new breed of work with his own production company. Using his extensive resources and entrepreneurial skills, his digital projects come alive with lightening fast images and piercing sounds. One of his newest works, “Postmodern Empires” (2014) plays like a mind-numbing maze of light and noise. Impressive production techniques juxtapose images at a rapid pace. A bedazzled woman innocently gazes as the brightly colored walls close in around her. The video turns into the ultimate challenge for an avant-garde stylist and an overly eager projectionist. With all of its shimmering glitter and experimental beats, “Postmodern Empires” seems to signify nothing, ultimately
devolving into mere static. Perhaps that’s the point. A generous interpreter might see the video as an elaborate mirror of contemporary society, pulsing screens and elaborate style that fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. But maybe there’s just not that much there. As an artist, Taner seems to favor the extreme, exuding an all-over effect on the viewer. By far, it’s his more humble projects that carry the most weight. The simplification and minimalist approach to his earlier work greets the audience like a breath of fresh air. Behind the camera, you can feel the bravado and ambition of a young conflicted artist desperate to make his mark on the world. However consciously or unconsciously, in the most recent stage of his career, some of his personal voice seems to have gotten lost along the way. With ample creative voices and professional tools at his disposal, perhaps Taner chews his bite more than necessary. That relatable sense of doubt is no longer an option.
Credits: Photographer: Taner Tumkaya www.tarfilms.com, http://tanertumkaya.net/lite/ Stylist: Alithea Kundanis http://alithea.virb.com/ MUA&Hair: Gina Banic http://www.ginabanic.com/ Model Kine Aaurum - http://www. modelmanagement.com/model/ kine-marie-elvira-aarum/
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Raul Gonzalez III Written by Marita Spooner
Raul Gonzalez—aka Raul the Third—is keeping busy. The Bostonbased cartoonist/illustrator/painter is running on equal parts coffee and ballpoint pen. Or, at least, his artwork is. With work described by the Boston Globe as “a kind of pulp Goya,” and by Beautiful/Decay Magazine as a “bizarre mix of badass and cute,” Raul the Third has folk’s attention and with good reason. Low Riders in Space, the wildly fun kid’s book he illustrated, hit store shelves in November and quickly earned an enviable spot in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Earlier this month, the Fitchburg Art Museum wrapped up an exhibition featuring a striking series of images painted by Gonzalez in collaboration with his wife, the artist Elaine Bay. What’s drawing people to his work? “I think there’s a sense of humor to it,” Gonzalez explains at his home one Sunday evening in December, “I think that’s what really brings people into it. Once they laugh, than they can think a little deeper about
what’s happening in the image. My least humorous work is the stuff I made recently for the Fitchburg Art Museum.” In an exhibit entitled “One Language is Never Enough,” the Fitchburg Art Museum brought together dozens of works by Latino artists from around New England, but the pieces from Gonzalez and Bay stood out, including one unflinching depiction of a border agent bringing his boot down onto a Mexican woman, whose face is like a contorted calavera mask. This painting, “El Migra as Heroic Virtue Overcoming Discord,” was actually inspired by a Peter Paul Reuben’s piece at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where he’s been a gallery instructor for more than ten years. “It’s a beautiful, small painting called ‘Hercules as Heroic Virtue,’ but it actually looks like Hercules is stomping down on this poor peasant person,” Gonzalez pauses and adds with a laugh, “You think, “Whoa, Hercules is a dick.’ ” Looking at a photo of the image, Raul also points out the sunglasses the border agent wears. “Elaine
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added those. You can see your reflection in them. And the flowers in the skirt, they’re actually embroidered.” Raul and Elaine collaborate a lot; they’ve known each other since they were sixteen and together they have a son, Raul the Fourth. Raul the Third grew up on the Texas border town of El Paso, but he spent a lot of time just across the border in Ciudad Juarez. His family had different booths at the local mercado. “They basically sold Mexican things to tourists.” Things like soaps wrapped in images by the famous Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada—images that leaked into Raul’s brain without him even realizing it until he was older. He paid closer attention to his comic books. In the eighties, the local 7-11 still had spinner racks filled top-to-bottom with issues of Sad Sack Sarge and Bucky O’Hare. He’d take them home to read and started copying the cartoons. By the time he was a teenager, he could mimic different kind of comics with ease. He knew then that he was going to be an artist, but never planned on art school. Bay la Loma y el Espejo - Mixed Media - 2014
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Instead he found his own way, which led him to Boston where he’s been living for the better part of two decades, but things really didn’t fall into place until about 2009. “Everything started coming together about five or six years ago,” says Gonzalez, sitting in front of his desk in an alcove off his living room with drawings from book two of Low Riders in Space in front of him and tacked up on the wall, “Actually, when Raul was born.” It was around then that he started painting—an endeavor that proved to be an immediate success. ‘The first serious series of images I made—I made about thirty of them—I won this major art award.” It was an award from the Artadia Foundation for Art and Culture. A series of successes followed. In 2010, he was voted the city’s best artist by the Boston Phoenix and he painted a mural sponsored by the Boston Arts Commission. A Canson Wet Paint Grant followed in 2011. During this time friend and fellow artist, Dave Kirsch, put him in touch with outreach librarian Cathy Camper. Camper noticed, and was
irked, that she didn’t have many books that her young Latino readers could relate to, save for one—a book on low rider cars. Before she knew it, Camper was dreaming up the story of three friends who build a low rider with the hopes of winning a competition that will give them the cash they need to build their own garage. When Lupe Impala (an antelope), Elirio Malaria (a mosquito), and Flapjack (a funny, little Octopus) get their hands on some rocket parts, they build a car that’s literally out of this world. Before they know it, they’re shooting into outer space for an interstellar adventure. The charming story about fulfilling your dreams is made all the more wonderful by Raul the Third’s illustrations, which are done entirely in ballpoint pen and sharpie…on paper splashed with coffee. When Camper approached Raul with the story and described her three characters, he knew exactly what to draw. “Within thirty minutes, I was scanning images and sending them to her.”
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After a few years of looking for a publisher, the Andrea Brown Literary Agency picked up their book. It’s unusual for a writer to bring in an illustrator on her own, but there weren’t any qualms. In fact, after expanding their book from 32 pages to 75, their literary agent, Jennifer Laughran, told Gonzalez to make it as many pages as he wanted. “She said, ‘I want you to breathe Raul!’” What’s especially cool about the book is that it’s drawn in simple ballpoint pen. The story might be about an extraordinary space adventure, but the materials that make up the artwork are exceptionally ordinary—BIC pens. And that was Raul’s intention. “Kids can read it and say, ‘I know what these marks are made with.’ ” It makes art less intimidating and more inviting, especially since art is so often closed off to minorities. “And if comic books weren’t around,” Gonzalez adds, “There are probably a lot of important artists that wouldn’t have become artists.” While it took several years to get this first book out, the second book will be coming much quicker. “We want to get them out at a pretty El camuflaje - Mixed Media - 2014 Abstraks 83
good clip. We’re hoping to do one a year. It’s really exciting.” Raul will continue to balance his illustrating with his art making. “I always have pockets of time in between drafts getting approved.”
work, and another love letter to El Paso, to Mexico, to history, to comics, to human rights and immigrants, friends, family, and art.
In addition to his upcoming exhibitions in New Jersey and North Carolina, Gonzalez will also be showcasing work closer to home. The original art from Low Riders in Space is currently on view at the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University and Phillips Academy in Andover. Later in March, Raul will also be opening a solo exhibition at Babson College called “The El Paso Kid.” It will be a series of 101 self-portraits based on 101 Samurai prints by 19th century Japanese printmaker Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
For more information on Raul Gonzalez, visit his website www. raulthethird.com. You can also pick up copies of his new and awesome book, Low Riders in Space, online or (even better!) at local bookstores, including Porter Square Books in Cambridge and Brookline Booksmith in Coolidge Corner.
Like much of his other work, it will explore life on the border with symbols and humor that make up so much of Raul the Third’s art, such as the burrocorn—a donkey with a stalk of corn growing out of its head. “It an homage to my grandfather and father. They were like beasts of burden, picking fruit in the fields.” It’s another symbol, another South of the Border - Mixed Media 2015 Abstraks 85